Top Chefs Suggest Better Things to Make with Ground Beef Than a Burger

Ground beef is the working class of the butcher counter. It’s dependable and affordable, but sometimes it can feel . . . well, a little boring. Sure, the first time you throw a few burger pa tties on the grill, it can be a great feeling—the official launch of summer. But how many burgers can a man eat before he wants to scream, “Enough already?”

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We sought out some of our favorite chefs and butchers—guys like Tim Love, Curtis Stone, and the cleaver-wielding artists at Fleisher's Craft Butchery—and asked them for their best beef ideas. They came up with five original recipes that will change the way you think about ground beef.

And for more amazing receipes like this, pick up a copy of Guy Gourmet. It’s got more than 150 amazingly delicious recipes, many inspired by top chefs.

Asian Beef and Vegetable Lettuce Cups

(Image courtesy of Penguin/ Random House)

Recipe by: Curtis StoneServes 4

The bestselling author—his latest is Good Food, Good Life: 130 Simple Recipes You'll Love to Make and Eat—and host of Bravo’s Around the World in 80 Plates suggests a ground beef recipes that's on the lighter side, what he calls “a variation on Chinese san choy bow, where ground meat and lots of fresh vegetables—bean sprouts, carrots, and cabbage—are spooned into lettuce leaves and eaten just like a taco.”

1. Heat a large heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add 2 teaspoons of the olive oil, then add the beef and cook, stirring occasionally and breaking up the meat with a wooden spoon for about 4 minutes, or until it loses its raw look. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the beef to a bowl.

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2. Return the pan to medium high heat and add the remaining 1 teaspoon olive oil. Add the onions and cayenne and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 1 minute, or until the onions begin to soften.

Stir in the garlic, followed by the celery and cabbage, and cook, stirring often, for about 3 minutes, or until the vegetables are slightly tender.

3. Stir in the hoisin sauce. Return the meat to the pan and cook for about 30 seconds to blend the flavors.

4. Stir in 1 cup of the bean sprouts, the carrots, and one-third of the scallions and season to taste with salt and pepper.

5. Remove the pan from the heat.

6. Arrange the lettuce leaves on four plates. Spoon some of the beef mixture into each of the leaves and garnish with the cilantro, remaining bean sprouts, and scallions. Serve immediately, with lime wedges and hoisin sauce on the side.

Picadillo

(Photo by Nina Cazille)

Recipe by: Jose GarcesServes 4-6

The Philadelphia-based, James Beard award-winning chef—and one of seven chefs in the country to be crowned Iron Chef—recommends a Cuban-inspired Picadillo.

“It's incredibly versatile,” he says. “Beyond just serving over rice, it can be used in empanadas or as a taco filling.” Or try our recommendation: Just eat it straight from the bowl.

After polling the Fleisher's butchers for ideas, they settled on the following stir fry recipe.

What You'll Need:

2 lbs of ground beef (1/3 to ½ pound of meat per person)

Salt, pepper

1 tsp of ginger

1 tsp caynene

½ white onion, chopped

2 Cups of seasonal vegetables diced

Use any combination of the following to equal two cups: broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, summer squash, bell peppers, carrots, mushrooms or what’s in the fridge, from the farmer’s market or what you love.

3 cloves of garlic finely chopped

½ tablespoon beef tallow (substitute coconut oil)

1 teaspoon chili oil (optional for spice)

1 package of Soba Noodles prepared

2 green onions, sliced

How to Make It:

1. Mix meat and seasonings well in a bowl with your hands.

2. Heat coconut oil in pan or wok until liquid. Over medium high heat sauté onions and garlic until translucent. Mix in chili oil in well if you like spicy.

3. Crumble beef into wok and cook until browned. (drain excess fat)

4. Fold in diced vegetables and cover until the veggies are al dente. They don’t need to be soggy or too crisp, right in the middle. Color of the vegetables should be at its brightest.

The Multi-Purpose Sloppy Joe

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(Photo by Jill Paider/SLS Las Vegas)

Recipe by: José AndrésServes 6-8

James Beard award-winning chef José Andrés, who owns over a dozen restaurants from Lon Angeles to Washington, D.C., offers a recipe for sloppy joes straight from the menu of his famed steakhouse Bazaar Meat in Las Vegas.

“Even a person who has difficulty cooking a burger—knowing how much oil to use, when the grill is ready, or when to turn it over—they can make this because you don’t have to go through the pain of that cycle of thinking,” Andrés says.

(Check out the for all the tools and knowledge you need for perfect backyard cooking, from the 5 cookout mistakes that make you sick to how to find the grill of your dreams.)

"And best of all, it reminds me of the stews my mother would make growing up," he says. "She would brown meat with tomato and serve it on top of fried potatoes. Now, it can go into a bun, and you can eat it with one hand.”

What You'll Need:

2 pounds ground beef (80/20 blend)

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1/3 cup small dice green bell pepper

2 to 3 garlic cloves minced

1/8 cup small dice celery

1 1/3 cup small dice Spanish onion

2 2/3 cups canned tomato puree

1 1/2 cups ketchup

2/3 cup demiglaze (a French sauce base that can take all day to prepare. A common substitution is beef stock.)

1 1/2 tablespoons worcestershire

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

2 1/2 tablespoons brown sugar

1/8 teaspoon ground clove

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

How to Make It:

1. Sear ground beef in a pan with oil.

2. Season meat with salt and pepper.

3. Add vegetables and continue to brown everything.

4. Add the rest of the ingredients and cook until sloppy joe consistency.

5. Fry the steamed bun until golden brown.

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6. Take out of the fryer and let it drain.

7. Cut in half and fill with hot sloppy joe and can be topped with straw potatoes.

Middle Eastern Meatballs with Spicy Greek Yogurt Sauce

(Image courtesy of Tim Love.)

Recipe by: Tim LoveMakes 16 meatballs

We’d expect nothing less from the official chef of the Austin City Limits Music Festival than a recipe that, in Love’s words, is best made “with some Texas heat.”

It's on the menu his Woodshed Smokehouse in Fort Worth, Texas—which we named one of The Manliest Restaurants in America—but Love claims that the meatballs “are almost better at a tailgate. Smokey, yet light and refreshing at the same time.”

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